Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

This was my last race of the season, and what a way to finish, through my ironman career i havent won many races, a few long course ones but not many although i have been many many times on podiums, winning this one is by right one of the highs of my career.

I travelled early with Vanessa an Helder, i was there on wednesday night so i had my time to sleep late and rest from the regular day i have at home. Everything went quite smothly, my only concern was the weather that of course couldnt control. i have been feeling awesome for the last 2 or so weekes and was absolutely ready for a race.

The forecast wasnt the best but at least it wasnt cold, the swim started at a very nice 8:30 am, the prep was uneventfull and i was happy to get to the start line ready.
The swim was good, i got into a group that felt really easy so i took advantage of this, the only remark i had is the looooong 2700 straight along the coast that never seemed to end. I got out in 56 witch was a bad time especially knowing that i was swimming well, helder imediately remarked that i was only 4 min from the lead and scant seconds from other favourites like Fachback meaning that i actually had a great swim, the swim times where just slower for everyone. going through T1 confirmed that i had a good swim as all the bikes i "marked" as reference points where still racked.

Riding time, the course was essencially a conection strech of something like 5km with very technical turns speed bumps etc until a 2 lap + one short 30 km lap and then again the same narrow roads until T2

I took it easy at the first part out of town, it certanly didnt matter at all if i went like crazy on this early race part. as soon as i got out of town there where a 3 man group that rode together until 45 50km, going to the first turn around was actually what felt harder in the entire ride, after that first 30 km i started getting my legs. At 45 50 km the big pack caught us and that pack included all the bikers that i wanted to leave behing on the swim. There where still a lot of atheletes between me and the leader Konstantin that unsurprisingly was tearing down the bike course. At this time i was feeling very "confortable" and the speed was very high, well above 40Km/h. At around middle of the ride the Pack was huge since i caught back Marcus Fachback along with other Like George Potrebish, all favourites this was when the group started to get smaller and smaller, my legs felt really well and i could matcha any pace on that group, Konstantin of course was already more than 10 min ahead, until the end the only remark was the rain that made the last 5km very very dangerous. I really eased the pace at this time, it was about 7-8 athletes going to T2 separated by seconds and the uberbiker was 15 min ahead. I was anxious to know how my legs would feel when i leave the bike in the rack....

I passed Tom running for the tent and left before him, I started running in about 9th BUT as soon as i left t2 i started hammering the run course, what a feeling!! running like there wasnt 180km + swim before.... the 4 lap run had plenty of turnaround spots to look at the competition, i only needed 6km to get to 2nd place and at the end of lap one i was already roughly 10min from Konstantin, this was possible, i felt just amazingly fast in the first 2 laps, i knew of course that this would end eventually and i had to worry about Tom since he was running a couple minutes back and still looked strong. at the end of lap 2 i was 5 6 min off and during the 3rd lap, when i started feeling the distance i caught the speedy biker around 30km, after that it was all about checking where tom was and if i was safe, i knew the final time would be fast so that helped trying to keep the pace high as i possibly could. Getting to that finish line first was always that feeling of finishing an ironman... but this time i was faster than everyone ;) i was really happy for this fantastic day where you just feel awesome.

Of course i got this late as i imediately got back to work, yes the regular joe work and im taking a bit of easy training the next few weeks, not much time to celebrate

Sunday, September 8, 2013

That was not my plan of course, i was counting on being sored from an great racing day in vichy but as i wrote it did not happen. I was totally free of physical stress from finishing the race but during the last days i lost quite a bit of weight despite forcing food down the throat i still have some leftovers from my episode.

Anyway after vichy i decided to race and Guadalajara was just there for me, i registered. I travelled really late on friday, got there (700km) at 3 am slept 5h and ready i was.

Guadalajara, the oldest triathlon in Spain and for that reason a classic race that is one of my most visited events apart the ironman hawaii.

The race started as 1:30pm with a one lap swim, i had a great swim, after 400m i was out alone with 2 guys ahead, Castro and Custodio, knowing those guys well and their swimming capabilities i was happy to be closer than usual to the lead. behind me when i looked back there was one big pack of swimmers.

The bike remains a brutal course this year with quite windy conditions, i felt sluggish at first but soon felt the legs, in that process Gustavo iglesias, a former pro cyclist that became triathlete passed me with such a speed that i didn't even see him disappear in the horizon ;). at 30km i caught David castro and remained 100m back for a while until another climb to pass, that was a good reference for me. the rest was all about going through the rest of hill and wind and see what was the status at t2 where i came 2nd.

10 min was the gap to Gustavo, WOW. i had my powermeter installed for the first time in more than a year and i knew that i didn't had a bad ride but that was a big gap.

Knowing that and since it would take something out of the normal to cut back 10min on an half ironman my first concern was knowing where the competition was, an easy task on the run course since its mainly 3 out and back sections. Almagro was roughly 2 min behind, a comfortable lead that i needed to make sure its kept that way. so first lap i ran comfortably hard, like any half ironman pace and see what happens. i stretched the lead so i assumed that i was safe and started running at a easier pace, i wasn't getting nowhere if i went hard to the finishing other than sored legs. I did 2 laps with a similar pace to a full ironman and actually felt amazingly easy.

2nd place in no more no less the 3rd straight year with the same result. i would be happier with a win but 2nd cant hurt either ;)

Now its all about getting ready for challenge barcelona witch as i see it will be a cracker with a amazing field.

Just after the race it was time for another 700km back home so the 30h math was essencially 14h driving 5h sleeping 3h going through racing procedures, 4h racing 1h eating and 3h of random post race stuff (including shower ;)

needless to say that today, after a 3:30 ride i spent the whole afternoon getting sleep in!!

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Everything, i mean everything went perfectly before the race and i felt great up until the very last meal the day before the race. At 9pm the sad show of vomiting all over the place and again at 1 am leaving me in a destroyed state. Unfortunately Vanessa witnessed this all all night long.

The morning of the race i tryed to put in some calories, went for the swim, swam the best i could with the conditions i had, hoped on the bike and at 30 min roughly breakfast along the first gels (i assume) came out also at the side of the road, expected. frome then on it was all about respecting the "race" and in the process hlep Vanessa establish a new PB and getting 5th overall. I beat my PB as well as the full distance ironman without calories, not even coke lasted long in my stomach.

Anyway, i know i was fitter than in Roth, but couldnt deliver. tough luck, life goes on, i love this and look forward to the next one ;) This makes the digestion of this race a lot easier, ha literally... digestion !!!

Monday, July 15, 2013

Lots of time with no news...well i got a good excuse, I've been more busy than i ever wanted to be...

To sum this a bit Besides working i have been doing some post grad studies. So to 8+4 gives 12 hours, half a day i don't have lately, im glad that the PG in getting done (at least the part where i need to be 4 h at school at night) until the end of this month.YEAAAH. But of course its been non stop weekdays from 5:30 to 23:30 and weekend to try catch up with the lack of good sleep. Ive been doing my best to train as well as i can!! What is your excuse to not do an ironman again??? ;)

I did try to race Nice a few Weeks ago but the race was somewhat destroyed by lack of rest and a presentation i needed to do on Friday before the race. i didn't feel like i was getting anything of the race and with Roth close i decided to pull out with no regrets.

As for Roth, I've been saying through the years that this one is one of the races i most wanted to do. Of course my addiction to Hawaii has been bigger but not this year. I decided i would race this one very early despite knowing that i would have some tough months ahead like i said before.

I got a very nice homestay with Kurt Graf and travelled with my GF that was also doing the race (she was 13th with 10:03) and i travelled early (Wednesday) to have some days of school/work and get some most deserved sleep the days before, it was very easy to close my eyes.

As for the race its impressive the quality of this one, the organization is second to none, unbelievable!! Straight to the start (im glad that nothing wrong happened before the race) the canal swim was amazing, the Pros+ the fastest guys all started at the same time, the routine is essentially the same go hard, try to hang to some feet, deal with the water for the rest of the time. I got into a group where i swam comfortably, i got quite a few kicks and punch through the swim, but i was out with nothing to report and my watch still had the 52min going on as soon as stand up, Nice!! it was good, of course time says nothing, i like to compare my time to the other athletes especially the contenders so at the end i definitely had a good swim with regular times at the lead swimmers.

Nothing to say of T1 other than i was out of there with no problems and still with lots of bikes at the racks, i obviously knew that most of my "swim buddies" where left in the water for a couple minutes. Fast Fast Fast was the first few kms before hitting the first short climbs. At around 20 km i passed Caroline, the women's leader that actually swam just a few seconds faster so she must have smoked those first kms. Massimo Cigana passed me with something like 40km and the big group that included Vabro, Zack, Bernd among others caught me. The next few kms where all about hanging with them the most i could, the pace was not constant at all witch i really wasn't enjoying, Then Came solar Berg, you have to do that one time, that's the only comment i have right now, impressive.
Half way and the group was smaller and the "caos" with lapped athletes and relays was big, we had 2 official tracking us down and ensuring that everyone was at legal distance. the pace was still not to my liking and when we hit the biggest climb, greeding, a couple guys got away at the base of the climb and i didn't notice, at the end of the climb i took of too and was joined by 2 other. till the rest of the ride everything remained the same, i have to say that when i passed the second time by Solar berg i was tired and ready to get out of the bike (still had like 20km to go).

I was really glad that i was out on my feet after 4:38 bike ride. The course indeed isn't slow but it also benefits powerfull riders. The nutrition was good and i had everything under control i tough I(of course)

Into the run, i passed too much time in T2 battling with a sock (how weird is that) so when i started running i already had 2 guys ahead of me a few seconds. I wasn't rushing things, got to a rub 4min/km pace and kept it for 4-5km, with a small downhill at the beginning was somewhere in the 3:50 pace, then came some unexpected problems, diarrhea, i apologize but i really had to stop for like 15times to let something go, i was definitely not feeling bad, when i was running i was running fast and was positive to deal with the Shi$# situation. I was actually more annoyed to be playing yoyo with the guy ahead of me, when i closed him down it was time to stop again ;). Fortunately somewhere in the 20 21km mark it stopped and immediately i started building some momentum and started running at 3:45 3:50 pace, sweet. I wasn't aware of my position as i cant really understand German and it wasn't easy to keep track of everyone, i do know that from km 28 to km 30 i passed 7-8 guys, this never happened to me, what a carnage!! i kept running and hoping for some more casualties, at km 37 i started fading a bit and with the last glimpse of Konstantin Bachor 3-4 min ahead with 2-3 km to go i knew it would be almost impossible to go up in the board one more spot, the day is done... Lets get to the stadium and enjoy the finish line....

I finished 7th and heck I'm happy with this, despite the problems with the first part of the run I'm pretty sure 2-3 min that i lost there wouldn't change my final classification other than a 2:45's run and a slightly faster final time. What matters is that i worked my way around difficulties to be race ready and enjoy another tough day ;)